Since August 2003, I have proudly volunteered as the local advisor to the Delta-Beta Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity at Monmouth University. The role that I fill is called the Chapter Director and I officially held this position for the better part of the last 14 years. There was a two and a half year period where I switched from being the Chapter Director at Monmouth to Sigma Pi Fraternity’s Province Archon for all of New Jersey. The Province Archon is a volunteer advisor and coordinator for a specific geographic region. I held that position from August 2006 through January 2009 and the reason why I resigned from that position might be the focus of a future article here on the blog, but is irrelevant today. At the time that I resigned as the Province Archon for New Jersey, the Delta-Beta Chapter Director position was just vacated by the alumnus who held the position after me, so I was able to easily move back into the Chapter Director position again. I resigned as Chapter Director last August to focus on my obligations as a member of the national board of directors, but I still work with the young men at Monmouth on a daily basis.

Undergraduates and alumni from Delta-Beta Chapter in February 2017

Before I became the Chapter Director at Monmouth, our Faculty Advisor held the position. Our Faculty Advisor is probably the best, most engaged Faculty Advisor in the entire fraternity (in fact, when Sigma Pi started giving out a #1 Faculty Advisor in the nation award, our advisor was the first recipient). However, when I graduated in 2003, the position was ripe for a new person to hold it. I spent two years as the President of my chapter and during that time I was required to research the many events, reports, and issues that our chapter was completely out of the loop on. Shortly after I graduated, the new President of the chapter and I traveled to Sigma Pi’s leadership school and talked to the fraternity’s Executive Director about our situation. During our trip, I was asked to become the new Chapter Director and we implemented that change immediately.

What I learned from my time as an undergraduate leader through my time as a young alumni volunteer and now to someone who has some seasoning as a volunteer is that undergraduates are, naturally, not as connected to the on-going workings of the national organization as one might expect. In other words, national student organizations like fraternities and sororities should not expect every single undergraduate leader at every single undergraduate chapter to take an impassioned interest in the finer points of completing and submitting monthly or quarterly or annual reports. There is going to be an equally less-than-enthusiastic understanding of why it is necessary and beneficial to attend national conferences and regional workshops.

It is one of the many jobs of a local and regional volunteer to connect with their undergraduates in an educational, uplifting, and genuine way. The connection must be educational because we need to make the mundane reporting relevant to their everyday experiences as undergraduate leaders. The connection must be uplifting because today’s young men are berated and denigrated by nearly every corner of society just because they are young men. Who will tell our young men, “Good job!” or “I’m proud of you,” if not for us?

But most importantly, the connection must be genuine because undergraduates can see through lies and falsehoods with laser-like accuracy. And they should cut through the nonsense!

I’ll be writing more about mentoring undergraduates soon, so stay tuned!

Today, the brothers at the Delta-Beta Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity garnered a front page headline in the local paper, the Asbury Park Press. Though the link below will not show you the picture of Joe Mullan or Bob Wankel, it does include the entire, full-text of the story (at least for the next week it will). A picture of Bob and Joe holding the ACE Project banner appears on the front page of this newspaper, if you’re in the Monmouth County area and want to see two GOOD college students:

COLLEGIANS: WE’RE NOT ALL ROWDIES

As any fraternity leader can tell you, press like this is very exciting in the Monmouth University area. I understand that most college areas are against students from the very start, but the “witch hunt” that goes on around Monmouth University is extremely frightening at times. Not only are the civil liberties of our these young men trampled on a weekly basis, but the local governments back the actions that you’ll read about in the article. And remember, I’m a guy who routinely had police just walk into his house at all hours of the night after the majority of the roommates were asleep. They were “just checking” – sound a little fascist to anyone?

I’m extremely proud of the Sigma Pi guys at Monmouth University. It’s not easy to put yourself out there like these guys have. I remember getting all different types of great responses to my student loan article last year, but I also remember getting some really vicious, unintelligent responses, too. I applaud the effort that these guys are putting into making the reality of their situation work.

Congratulations to the undergraduates at the Delta-Beta Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International at Monmouth University. Once again, they’ve won in Greek Week. Unfortunately, I was not able to be present and watch, but I hear it was a fun final day of events where the guys came back from a deficit to win.

This weekend marks the 4th Annual Delta-Beta Alumni Day at Sigma Pi Fraternity at Monmouth University. This is a fun event and since I know a few of the slugs who graduated from our chapter read this blog every once in a while, let me encourage you to go over to Alumni Day and hang out for a bit!

And remember that we have a Jersey Shore Alumni Club meeting at 1:00pm at the Big House. Topics for the meeting include revising the dues policy to make it more friendly to recent graduates and graduate students as well as planning a summer event at the Monmouth Park Racetrack for both undergraduates and alumni.

Oh, and the undergraduates have this thing being catered by QUIZNO’S! And they also have some Dominoes pizza, too! Why didn’t we ever get free pizza?

Obviously, no one knows what it’s like to have a ridiculous amount of student loans to pay off more than I do. That’s why I’m pleased to announce a new scholarship that has been established for my fraternity brothers at my undergraduate institution, Monmouth University!

The Delta-Beta Chapter Scholarship will be awarded to an active, full-time member of the Delta-Beta Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity at Monmouth University. This award will recognize the initiated member who most exemplifies the ideals of Sigma Pi through academic excellence, chapter leadership, philanthropic service, and community involvement.

We hope to award this scholarship as early as December 2007!

And if any of you are interested in making a donation to the tax-deductible fund, let me know!